Donegal Deputy Thomas Pringle has called on the Government to provide more fully state-funded student accomodation for third-level students.
He made plea in the Dáil yesterday evening, heavily criticising the lack of accomodation choices, as well as private student accomodation providers that force students into unneeded and predatory 51-week lease agreements.
“The private student accommodation providers, Aparto and Yugo’s attempt to force all incoming students, starting in September 2024, into 51-week tenancies is a blatant money-grab,” Deputy Pringle told the Dáil.
Deputy Pringle said the opportunity of extending leases should be offered to the small minority of students who require summer accommodation, “rather than forcing their entire student cohort into year-long leases that the majority of students don’t require and many of which would not be able to afford.”
He also noted the visit of An Taoiseach Simon Harris to Donegal earlier this year when he was still the Minister overseeing Higher Education, and called him to task on promises he made to Donegal students.
“At the beginning of this year, the Taoiseach was in Donegal visiting ATU campuses in Killybegs and Letterkenny when he spoke about his plans to increase the availability of student accommodation that would put an end to the State’s overreliance on the private market to deliver student housing.”
“There is a severe lack of State-funded, purpose-built and affordable student accommodation on college campuses in this country, and I welcomed this announcement. However, when reading further into this new student accommodation policy, I was disappointed to realise that this plan will not bring about the significant and large-scale change needed to student accommodation, but instead details plans for a mere 500 student accommodation beds, in Dublin and Maynooth initially.”
“This will do nothing to address the already high demand, never mind the continuously increasing demand. In the last ten years, the number of full-time students in Ireland has increased by 18%, exceeding 200,000 in the 2021/2022 academic year, and the Department of Education predicts a further rise to over 239,000 by 2031,” he said.
Deputy Pringle said: “The lack of available, affordable accommodation is an enormous issue. There simply isn’t enough and this should be the number one priority for all third-level institutions.”
